Weyes Blood

Image & Video by Jan-Willem Dikkers

Issue Questionnaire

“The album feels like a long time comin’

because its getting closer

to sounding like what I hear in my head.”

— WEYES BLOOD

Weyes Blood
Singer Natalie Mering records and performs as Weyes Blood. The Outside Room (2011), was her first album under Weyes Blood and was attributed to her and The Dark Juices. Her album releases following include The Innocents (2014), EP Cardamom Times (2015), and her most recent, Front Row Seat To Earth, releasing on October 21, 2016.

Natalie Mering, the being behind Weyes Blood, embeds her song in a harmonic gauze of arpeggiated piano, acoustic guitar, druggy horns, and outer space electronics. She’s been an active member in the underground music scene since 2006, collaborating with a slew of artists, including Jackie-O Motherfucker and Ariel Pink. In her new album, Front Row Seat To Earth, Weyes Blood, together with co-producer Chris Cohen and some special guests, contrast live band intimacy with the post-modern electric sheen of A.M. radio atmospherics.

Where are you from?

Anywhere and everywhere, probably some mixture of California and Pennsylvania.

When did you start making music?

As a wee lass, starting with piano then moving into guitar. Always sang.

Who did you listen to growing up and who is your music influenced by today?

I loved movie soundtracks as a kid. Stevie Wonder played a lot in my house, among many other things – Enya, Jeff Buckley, XTC, Joni Mitchell. Always felt close with singers of the transcendent variety. These days I’m basically influenced by the same things, except less movie soundtracks and more classical.

How would you describe your musical genre/style?

It’s exposed – cathedral confessions.

How and when did you decide that this is what you were going to do?

I always knew I wanted to be a performer. I’ve been performing since I can remember. Around 12, I became very focused on the guitar and playing it—also started listening to more music and feeling more connected to the pursuit, so I started writing.

“It’s exposed –
cathedral confessions.”
— Weyes Blood

How does it feel to have finished your album? What was the process like?

It feels like a long time comin’ because its getting closer to sounding like what I hear in my head. Still not there yet. More trial and error, mining for sonic gold.

JOHN CALE
John Cale is a Welsh musician, singer-songwriter and composer best known as a founding member of The Velvet Underground in the 1960s. Cale’s extensive solo career includes seminal albums Paris 1919, Fear, Slow Dazzle, Helen of Troy and Music for a New Society. He has collaborated with artists including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Brian Eno and Patti Smith. Cale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 with The Velvet Underground.

Who would you most like to collaborate with and why?

It would be dreamy to record with John Cale in a huge church somewhere—we could just drone out and work on power pop ballads. I’m drooling just imagining it.

What are you working on now?

Currently writing away at the next record- I have a surplus of songs so it may be split into two.

What’s your favorite book, film, and music right now?

My favorite book right now is Against the Grain by JK Huysmans.

What are your interests and passions outside of music?

I love film and directing–something I’d like to pursue more overtime. I also love plants and herbs and miss wandering the woods looking for edible plants and mushrooms.